Mason's 1st Trip to the Lake

To celebrate Mason's 4 week old birthday/1 month birthday we took a trip to the lake!!  After we finished packing up the car it looked like we were going somewhere for 1 week instead of 2 days.  Mason did great in the car and slept most of the way. Lily did great too! We weren't sure how she would feel about sharing the back seat, but she didn't seem to mind.  All weekend we just relaxed, watched Olympics and spent time on the dock while Mason napped inside.  We also went on our first walk!! It felt so great to walk both days for 20-30 minutes!  Mason just slept the entire time.  We gave him a bath at the lake too and I will post pictures shortly.  He enjoyed spending time with Mimi, Papa, and Debbie Jacobson.

1 Month Old Update

I can't believe Mason is already 1 month old! The last 4 weeks have flown by!  He and I keep busy during the day running errands, practicing tummy time,  doing lunch dates (first official lunch date with Colleen Stine and Ryan :) ), and projects around the house. 
We went to 2 breastfeeding groups last week which was fun to meet other moms/babies.  Mason weighed in at 10lbs. 1 oz; we were very happy about him gaining weight.  He is very alert now.  He can focus on a toy or sofie if you hold it near his head and he will follow it from side to side.  He loves being on his tummy, which is great, however sometimes he falls asleep during tummy time because he is so comfortable.  He is smiling a ton! He loves listening to noises that people make and he will give you a little smile to let you know.  He is sleeping anywhere from 4- 5.5 hours imbetween feedings at night, and we just let him wake us up when he is hungry.  We are working on transitioning him to his crib.  He takes naps in it during the day and will sleep in it at night.  But we still put him in the pack n play in our room sometimes.
He is growing fast too! He doesn't fit into newborn clothes anymore and newborn size diapers barely fit.  His little newborn sleep sack still fits, however he is so long that it may be too short for him within the next few days.

1st trip to the lake

The lake is just so tiring! Mason did great on his first long car ride and is enjoying the lake thus far! Being 4 weeks old must be tough.

Tummy time practice

I guess I am glad that Mason doesn't mind laying on his stomach. But he doesn't seem very interested in his 1st official Tummy Time. 😄

1st Real Bath!

Here are a few pictures from his first real bath in his bath tub!

Upload from phone (test)

Just chilling

Ashley's attempt at a Photo Shoot (3 Weeks Old)

  

So we are planning on getting some professional pictures taken of Mason around 3 months, but I wanted to experiment.  I totally understand now, why you have a professional take the pictures.  I wanted to do a few naked baby pictures and a few shots where he is bundled up in a ball on his tummy.  Lets just say that is more challenging than I expected.  A few things I didn't think about: balancing the baby on the top of the boppy pillow, naked baby = risk of getting peed on, and wide awake baby = lots of movement and stretching!  But I still got a few funny pictures!

Thanks Aunt Lauren for the adorable onesie!!                  Obviously this picture was not going to work                                                                                      and we wanted to stretch our legs!

I am very alert these days and love staring at different things.  I love the ceiling fan!

New friends!

Mason was very excited to learn about his new playmates being born last week! Rose Darabcsek Tanner had Baby Travis on Sunday July 15th! And Katie Stieven Stone had Baby Henry on Thursday July 19th!! Everyone is doing great and all are healthy!! Mason and I can't wait for play dates in the near future!! Now, only 5 weeks until Baby Jeppson arrives!!

Week 3 with a Newborn

This week was really great! I am feeling normal again and am able to run errands every few days! Mikael and I actually sat by the pool while Mason napped on Saturday! It felt amazing to sit outside for a tiny bit! Mason is growing and I feel like he is having growth spurts frequently. There are days when he seems to eat every 2hours on the dot! But I guess it's good to have a healthy growing boy. This weekend on Sunday Mason got his 1st real bath!! No more sponge baths for this little guy. He enjoyed it until he got a face full of water (he was not happy with me). He is also doing well with his nightly bottle and actually took 5oz the other night. We were also super excited on Friday when the doctor said we could try demand feeding during the night since Mason is 3 weeks old and eating really well! He now sleeps for about 5-5.5 hours at night Imbetween feelings. We just hope that lasts! Finally, we took him out to dinner on Friday & Saturday night and he was so well behaved! It was funny because people kept trying to peek and see him in his carrier. And numerous people came over to say Congratulations. We must have really looked like new parents!

A few more pictures

Here are a few more pictures from Colleen's photo shoot with Mason!

Mason's 2 Week Photo Shoot

We are so lucky to have great friends! Colleen, Doug and Ryan Stine brought us dinner on Saturday and took some pictures of Mason.  Colleen was borrowing her friends professional camera lens and she took some amazing pictures!!

Mason Updates:
The first 2.5 weeks have flown by! I can't believe Mason has been in our lives for 18 days already!  We are all doing great!  He has had a few sponge baths (waiting for the last part of his umbilican cord to fall off) and has mixed feelings about it.  He typically enjoys it, unless he gets cold.  We also gave him his first bottle on Friday (7/13) and he did fantastic.  Mikael gave him about 2oz. and he took it all and wanted more.  We will continue to give him a bottle each night so that we don't have any issues when I go back to work in October.  He actually took 4oz from a bottle last night, so we are thinking he is going through a growth spurt, because it only took him about 10 minutes to finish it. 
Finally, he is eating every 2-2.5 hours during the day and eating every 4 hours at night.  I think we are finally getting used to this new sleep cycle.  Sometimes we have to wake Mason up to feed him and other times he wakes us up almost always within 10-15 minutes of our alarm to go off.  So he is definetly well aware of when his feedings are. One last update...he is beginning to be very alert throughout the day. He will smile and look around.  He loves staring at the ceiling fans and anything else that he can look at!

First Bath At Home

On Friday Night we decided it was time to give Mason his first bath at home.  We decided to give him a bath right after he ate so he would be a happy camper.  To our surprise he was the best little boy during the bath.  He laid there without fussing or crying once during the bath. 

Also, at his 1 week birthday Mason came in at 7 pounds and 13.4 ounces.  Almost back to his birth weight.

Mason Sawyer Olson

Ashley and I were in the hospital on Thursday for an induction.  The pitocin was starting to work, but we really knew we were not leaving the hospital without a baby when her water broke on Thursday afternoon.

Finally, Mason Sawyer Olson arrived on June 29, 2012 at 4:14 AM.  He weighed in at 7 pounds and 14 ounces and was 21 inches tall. 

We were so happy to have so many Family and Friends come to the hospital to meet the little man. 

We came home from the hospital on Sunday afternoon.  When we arrived home we had a little surprise for us in the front yard.

Mason's Nursery

Mason's Nursery:  Well the nursrey is finally complete! We have all of the furniture, wall hangings, and curtains set up.  A big thank you to all that helped make his nursery so special (Mr. and Mrs. Olson, Lauren Jeppson, Jennifer Parsonage, and Carol Parsonage). We know Mason is going to love it!